MID BREW Gravity help!!

[fatherdan]

Missed by quite a bit for preboil gravity.

Its an all grain Gealic Ale. 14.5gallons preboil.

Can I use honey and if so how much?

corn suger?

its a 90 min boil and was 1035 would like to finish 1054


Thanks

 

[treacheroustexan]

You already boiled and it was at 1035? or your preboil was 1035? It will be higher than that after you boil.

 

[fatherdan]

Yeah I know but I'll never hit 1054. Will I?

 

[treacheroustexan]

What size batch are you doing?

 

[fatherdan]

Ten gallons. Would like 12 at the end of.boil. I've got 30 minutes left

 

[fatherdan]

Took a reading at 30 minutes and am at 1041

 

[kh54s10]

According to this calculator: http://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-and-boiloff-gravity-calculator/

If you boil your 14.5 gallons down to 9.4 you will get the 1.054 you want.

What size batch are you doing?

 

[treacheroustexan]

My calculations show that with that preboil gravity, you would need to boil down to 10 gallons to get at least 1.051. Then a little closer to 9 gallons to get your 1.054. You will probably be about 10 points off at 12 gallons. I'd say you will be fine, but I would assume honey could help you get there. I'm not sure on the amount though, so will have to wait for someone else to chime in. Good thing with honey though you can always add it later.

 

[kh54s10]

If you are looking to get 10 gallons why do you want to end up with 12?

The other calculator on the page linked says if you stop at 12 gallons your gravity will be 1.042'

If you added bittering hops and boil longer the beer will become more bitter.

You can add either honey or corn sugar, How much I don't know. I am sure there are online calculators that will help.

 

[kh54s10]

A thought on the reason you might be low to start with. If the recipe was intended to finish with 10 gallons and you are trying to get 12 gallons it would start off low....

 

[treacheroustexan]

A thought on the reason you might be low to start with. If the recipe was intended to finish with 10 gallons and you are trying to get 12 gallons it would start off low....

My thoughts. 10 gallons wouldn't be too far off at all.

 

[fatherdan]

Yeah. I usually adjust the grain bill. I try and put 6 gall in each fermentor
I'm gonna be closer than I thought I mashed a little lower so it should get me to a 5.5%. I was shooting for 5.6%

 

[treacheroustexan]

Yeah. I usually adjust the grain bill. I try and put 6 gall in each fermentor
I'm gonna be closer than I thought I mashed a little lower so it should get me to a 5.5%. I was shooting for 5.6%

Can't complain about that! Enjoy!!

 

[fatherdan]

I'm so used to overshooting my numbers I was caught off guard.

Thanks for the data.

To top things off I had a 5min aroma hop and my propane petered out with 2minute to go lol. Recipe didn't call for a dryhop but I may go 1/2ounce,of both 5 minute additions.

Cheers I'll report back,in,17days

 

[JimRausch]

Too late for this batch, but for the future, it's a good idea to keep a lb. of DME, a lb. of sugar and/or a lb. of honey on hand for just such circumstances. General rule of thumb- in a 5G batch, 1 lb. of any of those will give you around another 8 points.
A handy formula to remember: multiply your preboil SG by preboil volume. Take that # and divide by your projected postboil volume. Equals your postboil SG.
ie: preboil sg of 1.045 (45 points) x 12 G = 540. Divided by 10G = 54. (1.054). That way you'll know early in the boil if you are going to need to add anything.